Instrument for removing obstructions from the throat

ABSTRACT

A generally U-shaped instrument for removing obstructing objects from the throat and organs associated therewith has spaced arms which can be squeezed together. The arms are formed with curved hooklike ends having lateral flanges to protect the tongue and parts of the throat when the instrument is inserted in the throat. Wedge-shaped spurs extend laterally from inner sides of the arms to interfit with each other for engaging the obstruction. The spurs can be pivotally mounted.

United States Patent Inventor William C. Eller 4701 N. Federal HighwayC2, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33308 Appl. No. 769,954

Filed Oct. 23, 1968 Patented June 1, 1971 Continuation-impart ofapplication Ser. No. 641,816, May 24, 1967, now Patent No. 3,489,151,dated Jan. 13, 1970.

INSTRUMENT FOR REMOVING OBSTRUCTIONS FROM THE THROAT 4 Claims, 14Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 128/356, 81/43, 128/321, 128/354, 294/99 Int. Cl ..A6lb 17/24,A61b 17/28 Field of Search 128/356,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,537,793 5/1925 Bates 128/354X1,610,925 12/1926 Bryan 128/354 3,140,715 7/1964 Whitton et a1. 128/3213,489,151 1/1970 Eller 128/356 FOREIGN PATENTS 866,035 4/1961 GreatBritain 81/43 140,159 5/1903 Germany 128/353 324,416 1 1/1957Switzerland 81/43 Primary ExaminerDa.lton L. Truluck Att0rn eyP0lachek &Saulsbury ABSTRACT: A generally U-shaped instrument for removingobstructing objects from the throat and organs associated therewith hasspaced arms which can be squeezed together. The arms are formed withcurved hooklike ends having lateral flanges to protect the tongue andparts of the throat when the instrument is inserted in the throat.Wedge-shaped spurs extend laterally from inner sides of the arms tointerfit with each other for engaging the obstruction. The spurs can bepivotally mounted.

PATENIED JUN 1 m SHEET 1 [1F 3 INVEN'H )R M'l/iam C. fl/er PATENTED JUN1 1971 SHEET 3 OF 3 INVENTOR M'l/mm C. f/ler ATTORNEYJ INSTRUMENT FORREMOVING OBSTRUCTIONS FROM THE THROAT This application is acontinuation-in-part of my copending patent application, Ser. No.641,816, filed May 29, 1967, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,489,151 issued Jan. 13,1970.

The present invention involves improvements in an instrument forremoving obstructing articles which may be chunks of solid food, fromthe organs associated with the throat.

In my copending application above mentioned, I have described aninstrument which can be used safely by laymen such as restaurantpersonnel in an emergency to remove a large piece of meat or other foodobstructing a persons throat, and save the person s life. The instrumentdescribed in that application has a bifurcated structure with two armscurved at the ends and provided with narrow teeth. The presentinventioninvolves improvements to make the instrument easier and saferto insert in a persons throat, and easier to operate. The improvedinstrument has improved teeth or spurs for gripping the obstructions inthe persons throat. The spurs can be pivotable to turn away from thedirection of insertion in a person s throat so. that the spurs moveeasily along opposite sides of .an obstruction and then turn to grip theobstruction when the instrument is pulled out of the throat.

For further comprehension of the invention and of the objects andadvantages thereof, reference will be had to the following descriptionand accompanying drawings and to the appended claims in which thevarious novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a material part of thisdisclosure:

FIG. I is a side view of an instrument embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of an instrument embodying the invention.

FIG. 3 is a front end view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. I,through ends of the arm shown in open position.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 4, showing the arms in closedposition.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side elevational view of part of one arm takenonline 6-6 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is an end view similar to FIG. 3, showing parts of anotherinstrument embodying another form of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 4, showing the arms of theinstrument of FIG. 8 in open position with teeth or spurs, retractedposition, for insertion in a person s throat.

FIG. I0 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 9, showing the teeth orspurs extended position for engaging any food obstruction in a personsthroat.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic sectional view showing the swallowed foodpassing through the food passage in the throat.

FIG. l2is a similar view showing the food obstructing or blocking theair passage in the throat.

FIG. 13 is another view similar to FIG. 12 showing the instrument inactuating position and in engagement with the food obstacle.

FIG. I4 is 'a side view of the instrument with the removed food.

Referring first to FIGS. 1-7, the instrument I includes two generallycoextensive flexible arms a and 20b joined at their rear ends 21 by arivet 22 to a hinge block 24 for hingelike movement at their free frontends 25. The arms 20a and 20b may be formed of any suitable springymaterial preferably stainless steeL'plastic or composition material.Adjacent the hinge block 24, the arms 20a and 20b are formed with widerhandle portions 26 which are grippable for squeezing the arms towardeach other. Beyond the intermediate handle portions 26 are hooklike endportions 30a, 30b. The end portions 30a and 30b are to be insertedthrough a person's mouth to extend passed over the tongue and down intothe throat area. The end portions 30a, 30b are similarly smoothly curveddownwardly each in the general plane of its associate arms 20a and 20b.

Adjacent their free to lower ends 32a, 32b, the insertable portions arecurled inwardly toward each other transversely to the planes of the armsas best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 at points 34a, 34b.

The curved ends 30a and 30b of the arms are formed with laterallyextending flanges 36 which extend along the bottom surface of the armends and then around the tips 42 and part way up the front or uppersurface of the tips. This arrangement increases the rigidity of the tipby defining an I-beam type of structure as clearly shown in FIG. 7. Theflanges 36 make insertion and positioning of the instrument quicker andsafer by sliding over the person s tongue pushing it down and forwardlyto enter the throat without injuring any parts or organs at the back ofthe throat.

Instead of pointed teeth provided in the instrument described in myprior application above mentioned, I provide rather wide wedge-shapedspurs or teeth 44 and 46 at inner sides of the respective arm ends. Thespurs are spaced apart and staggered to tend to interfit with each otheras clearly shown in FIG. 5.

The construction is such that the end portions 30a and 30b may readilybe passed conjointly into the persons mouth and slid over the tongue andextended to the back of the throat. The curves in the insertableportions enable them to move smoothly, easily and naturally downwardlyto reach the critical throat area so that the spurs 44 and 46 will bepositioned on opposite sides of a removable obstruction such as a largepiece of meat or other food. By squeezing the arms together theobstruction will be engaged and it can then be quickly and safely drawnout of the throat. The instrument is so constructed that almost anyperson upon inspection will recognize the proper manner of use and canapply it to a victim of throat obstruction in an emergency without anyprevious instruction. Sides 50 of the arms at the handles can be scoredor knurled to provide a firm frictional grip when grasped by the user.The optimum dimensions of parts of the instrument may be as described inmy copending application above mentioned.

In FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 are shown hook-shaped endportions 30a and 30b ofanother instrument II which is generally similar to instrument I andcorresponding parts are identically numbered. In instrument II, spurs44' and 46' are pivotally mounted in recesses 51a, 51b of portions 30aand 30b. The spurs are pivotable on pins 52. The base ends of the spursare formed with points which engage inner sides of the recesses when thewedge-shapedspurs are extended toward each other as shown in FIG. 10 forengaging an article A therebetween. The spurs are shown in turned upretracted position in FIG. 9. The spurs 44', 46' respectively turnclockwise and counterclockwise from the position of FIG. 9 to theposition of FIG. 10. When the spurs are in the position of FIG. 9, theywill be turned in the direction opposite to the direction of insertioninto a person's throat to insure quick and safe passage of hooklikeportions 30a, 30b along opposite sides of obstruction A. Then when theinstrument is pulled out of the persons throat, the spurs turn and diginto the obstructing article to engage it securely so that it will bedrawn out of the persons throat quickly and surely. Supplementary pins54 are provided below the upper spurs to serve as abutments and hold thespurs in extended position shown in FIG. 10. Pins 52 and 54 extendthrough apertures 55 formed in the end portions 30a and 30b of theinstrument as shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a persons head and throatshowing the normal passageway 10 of the food 0 through the mouth and theesophagus (food passage tube) Ma. In this normal process the trachea(wind pipe) W is covered and closed by the epiglottis V to preventpassage of food into the trachea.

In FIG. 12, the epiglottis V has failed to close over the trachea W andthe chunk of food completely obstructs the airway. Thisobstruction'causes death of the victim in a few minutes.

FIG. 13 shows the instrument I in actuating position, lowered into thethroat and ready to grip the obstructing food O and thereafter to bepulled out from its air blocking position.

FIG. 14 is a side elevational view of the instrument holding the removedfood obstacle.

What I claim is:

l. A forcepslike instrument for removing obstructions from inside thethroat by an unskilled person comprising two generally coextensivelaterally spaced flexible arms joined to hinge means at one end andrespectively having intermediate handle portions grippable manually formoving the arms toward each other in a direction transverse to thelongitudinal direction of extent of the arms, the other ends of the armshaving harmless hooklike portions similarly curved in the planes of thearms for conjoint self-guided insertion through a person's mouth intohis throat on opposite sides of a removable obstruction therein, saidhooklike portions of the arms having inner sides facing each other; anda plurality of spaced wedgeshaped spurs on each of said inner sides, thespurs on said two inner sides extending toward each other for grippingsaid obstruction on opposite sides thereof when the hooklike portions ofthe arms are moved toward each other and means pivotally supporting thewedge-shaped spurs on the hooklike portions of the arms, so that thespurs turn in one direction opposite to the direction of insertion ofthe hooklike portions of the arms into a person's throat to facilitatethe sliding of the hooklike portions along opposite sides of theobstruction, and whereby the wedge-shaped spurs turn inwardly towardeach other to engage in said obstruction when the hooklike portions movein said one direction while drawing obstructions out of the personsthroat.

2. A forcepslike instrument as defined by claim 1, wherein the arms andhinge means are arranged to define a generally U-shaped structure, saidhinge means forming the bight of said U-shaped structure, so that thearms can be brought together in generally parallel disposition onopposite sides of said obstruction,

3. A forcepslike instrument as defined by claim 2, wherein the arms andhinge means are formed as one integral structure.

4. A forcepslike instrument as defined by claim 1, wherein said hooklikeportions of the arms have flange extending laterally thereof along innerbottom edges of the hooklike portions around the tip ends thereof andalong upper edges thereof to facilitate entry of the hooklike portionsover the person's tongue, under the uvula and down into the throat.

1. A forcepslike instrument for removing obstructions from inside thethroat by an unskilled person comprising two generally coextensivelaterally spaced flexible arms joined to hinge means at one end andrespectively having intermediate handle portions grippable manually formoving the arms toward each other in a direction transverse to thelongitudinal direction of extent of the arms, the other ends of the armshaving harmless hooklike portions similarly curved in the planes of thearms for conjoint self-guided insertion through a person''s mouth intohis throat on opposite sides of a removable obstruction therein, saidhooklike portions of the arms having inner sides facing each other; anda plurality of spaced wedge-shaped spurs on each of said inner sides,the spurs on said two inner sides extending toward each other forgripping said obstruction on opposite sides thereof when the hooklikeportions of the arms are moved toward each other and means pivotallysupporting the wedge-shaped spurs on the hooklike portions of the arms,so that the spurs turn in one direction opposite to the direction ofinsertion of the hooklike portions of the arms into a person''s throatto facilitate the sliding of the hooklike portions along opposite sidesof the obstruction, and whereby the wedge-shaped spurs turn inwardlytoward each other to engage in said obstruction when the hooklikeportions move in said one direction while drawing obstructions out ofthe person''s throat.
 2. A forcepslike instrument as defined by claim 1,wherein the arms and hinge means are arranged to define a generallyU-shaped structure, said hinge means forming the bight of said U-shapedstructure, so that the arms can be brought together in generallyparallel disposition on opposite sides of said obstruction.
 3. Aforcepslike instrument as defined by claim 2, wherein the arms and hingemeans are formed as one integral structure.
 4. A forcepslike instrumentas defined by claim 1, wherein said hooklike portions of the arms haveflange extending laterally thereof along inner bottom edges of thehooklike portions around the tip ends thereof and along upper Edgesthereof to facilitate entry of the hooklike portions over the person''stongue, under the uvula and down into the throat.